Over the past several years, the videogame market has been flooded with “Lord of the Rings” type stories of fantasies and wizardry, especially in the RPG and RTS genres, which are primarily released on the PC. From Blizzard’s infamous “WarCraft” series to MMORPG’s such as “Dark Age of Camelot” and “Everquest,” every respectable gamer has at least engaged in one of these J.R.R. Tolkien inspired tales. Enter “SpellForce: The Order Of Dawn,” Encore’s latest software offering since its recently released sleeper-hit, “Silent Storm,” constructed by the primarily German based development house “Phenomic Game Development.” Though this game has been available since November 28th, 2010 in Germany, localization has finally been completed, and the game has debuted on American shores. While not outstanding from the rest of the Fantasy pack in terms of storyline, which is obviously “inspired” by Tolkien’s greatest works, “SpellForce” manages to bring interesting game mechanics to a tired and somewhat stale genre. What kind of game play mechanics? Read on young wizard, or risk the wrath of… ah forget it, I can’t think of anything clever to say this time.

“SpellForce: The Order Of Dawn” casts you in the role of a Human in control of Elves, Dwarves, Dark Elves, Trolls, or Orcs, all of which have their own specialties and weaknesses. As usual, humans are the most well-balanced of the races, whereas Orcs possess superhuman strength and Elves excel in long-distance combat. Of course, standard classes such as Fighter, Wizard, etc., are also available, making the game nearly identical to all other offerings in Fantasy RPG Genre. The story itself is also obviously “inspired” by J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, apparent from the very first opening cinematic which explains the story’s background. In order to create peace throughout the world, an alliance of thirteen magicians gathered, and constructed a plan of “500 years,” at the end of which a “dark roamer” would appear in the world, and bestow almighty power upon one of the magicians. To decide who would become almighty, the mages would perform a deciding ritual, called “The Convocation,” which would bundle all of the energy of the world - called the “Eternal Flames” - present in everything and everyone inhabiting the planet, into one, however, their lust for power separated the magicians, who spread throughout the world. Shortly before the ritual of “Convocation” was scheduled to occur, a tremendous war broke out across the world, leading to the death of countless members of every species.

At this point in time, the story takes an interesting twist away from Tolkien’s epic, continuing with the appearance of the “dark roamer.” To bundle the “Eternal Flames” together, the magicians began their ritual, but the energy was too powerful for only one to possess it. Therefore, the “Eternal Flames” which once held the world together were now brutally ripping it apart. Now, only small patches of land remain, connected by magical portals and stones. Enter Rohen, one of the remaining thirteen magicians. Eight years after the “Convocation,” Rohen, wanting to reconstruct what was destroyed, creates the “Order of Dawn,” consisting of the remaining population, and begins to reconstruct the world… yet, the battle still rages. This is where “SpellForce: The Order Of Dawn” begins.

GRAPHICS:
In comparison to other RTS games, such as “Command & Conquer: Generals” or “Word War III: Black Gold,” the graphics are actually quite impressive. Character models are finely detailed, a la “Everquest,” and the lighting effects the game’s engine is capable of producing are of notably good quality. When viewed from a “third person view,” (more on that later,) it is forgotten that one is playing an RTS, which make the graphical experience that much more enjoyable. Rich details on in-game objects, such as trees, temples, etc. can be seen, and it is apparent that the developers attempted to make the best of the slightly dated technology that they had available. Sadly, it seems as if the game’s low system requirements of a 1 GHz Pentium III, with 256 MB RAM and a 32 MB Graphics Card, put a crimp on what could have been an even more amazing display of graphical power. Systems built for gaming, such as the test machine, running an Athlon XP 2800+, 512 MB DDR400 RAM, and an All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro, will have absolutely no trouble running the game smoothly with the graphical settings turned to maximum, and slightly older systems, such as two year old retail PC’s will also still be able to enjoy the game’s graphics thoroughly.
SCORE: 8.0/10

SOUND:
Before beginning, let me first discuss the positive sides of sound. The soundtrack composed for the game is epic, the orchestration managing to convey moments of tension, fear, and any other emotion imaginable. The foremost example of this can be seen in the opening cinematic of the game, where two tremendous armies clash while the ground around them collapses into nothingness. Though not comparable to Harry Gregson-Williams’ breathtaking compositions for “Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty,” the soundtrack is extremely moving, and complements the game nicely. Also impressive are the spell-casting sound effects, which produce realistic sounding cracks of lightning and cackling flames. Also, the narrator in the opening cinematic is amazing, possibly delivering one of the best videogame performances of all time. While these aspects of the sound are above average, the voice acting is without a doubt the worst ever to be heard in videogames.

In a surprising move, JoWood has decided to cast bored housewives and French exiles to record all of the spoken dialogue. Perhaps the actors recording the American lines were the same as the German ones, and were therefore not able to understand what they were saying, but whatever the case, the vocal localization is quite poor. How bad is this voice acting? Take the opening scene, for example: As the game opens, we learn that one of your compatriots was attacked, and was possibly bludgeoned mercilessly to death by a gigantic army. Your character is approached Caele, a female rogue, who is quickly running down the path to inform you that your help is desperately needed.

“Wow,” you think to yourself. “This is going to be one epic performance, especially after that sweet narrator,” and you eagerly shift in your seat and crouch over your speakers to bask in the undoubtedly upcoming glory of the dialogue. Then Caele begins to speak. To accurately imagine the exhilaration in this actor’s voice, take the excitement of Ben Stein and divide by two. No, I couldn’t possibly make this up. Sadly, things get worse as the game progresses, and you soon succumb to the fact that there is not one memorable performance in the game, save for the narrator who explained the story in the opening cinematic. Theory goes that the misleading narrator was cast purposefully, in order to make you feel the pain and suffering that the in-game characters felt when their world was ripped apart. Why for the love of God did the American team decide to cut out the French and German language tracks, so that French or German speakers, namely me, could be saved the horrific English acting? This fact remains uncertain, however, more time should have definitely been put into the dialogue if having more than one language was out of the question.

While the grand orchestration and spell-effects are quite memorable, the horrendous voice acting makes you turn off the speakers every time someone says something. To be spared the effort of navigating a configuration menu during the game, make sure to turn the character voices off at the beginning, and merely read the dialogue, like you had to do in “Neverwinter Nights.” Let’s hope that they use more talented voice actors in the sequel.
SCORE: 5.0/10

GAMEPLAY:
While the graphics of the game are above average for an RTS, and the spoken dialogue is arguably the worst ever to be featured in a commercial piece of software, the gameplay department is where this jewel truly shines. While the game features heroes, unit construction, and resource management, as seen in “WarCraft III,” and most every other strategy game to date, “SpellForce” has managed to construct something truly unique, managing to merge the world of RTS and RPG so perfectly, making you wonder why this has never been attempted before. One of the best features is that your hero unit, which was constructed at the beginning of the single-player campaign, levels up throughout the course of the game, being present throughout every battle. Therefore, one is theoretically able to construct an invincible battle tank, rendering the construction of additional units unnecessary, if enough time is put into this task.

Gameplay is open-ended, allowing you to return to almost anywhere, once an area has been cleared in order to level up, etc. For fans not liking the point and click interface, it is possible to zoom into a third person perspective with the mouse wheel, and use the WASD keys to navigate your character. This is simply amazing! Why has no one ever thought of this before!? This adds another deep level to the already thorough yet simple overhead control system, making sure that any fan of either the RTS or FPS genre is well pleased. Menu navigating, as well as mana and troupe managing are a breeze, helping save the game from its horrible voice acting. The game also features an 8 player online mode, allowing gamers to continue enjoying the game after the thrills of the story have worn off.
SCORE: 9.5/10

CONCLUSION:
While I have never been a fan of Fantasy games, and even had trouble sitting through “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” without making fun of it MST3K style, this game has made me fall in love with the genre and opened my eyes to a whole other world that I had been missing. Terrible voice acting aside, the gameplay is one of the most enjoyable systems I have ever encountered, and the graphics manage to hold their own especially in comparison to other RTS games. Whether or not you are a fan of the genre or merely like the idea of a role playing game coming together with a real-time strategy simulation, “SpellForce: The Order Of Dawn” is a much needed addition to any gamer’s library. Pick it up today!
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10